National Spatial Planning Plan: The maximum common denominator

Abstract

This article discusses the National Land Management Plan, making it a striking instrument for Portuguese territorial planning, the first instrument that presents a coherent and integrated vision in its various components (land, environmental, economic, social or mobility). It is considered to be a politically settled plan, which is presented as a structuring document and transversal to a set of territorial policies with territorial impact: from the provision of infrastructure to major roads and modes of transport, from environmental protection to restructuring of social and cultural facilities. However, the PNPOT avoids addressing some of the decisive and controversial issues of the spatial planning system, with a particular emphasis on the current administrative partitioning, the division of competences between the various levels of administration or the forms of management and supervision of the implementation of Such an ambitious plan. The moment of public discussion mainly stimulates the critical analysis capable of making the PNPOT proposal a sufficiently well-informed and programmed and effectively managed document.